Statement on John Roberts and Rosie Jimenez (Women's Commission)- August 28, 2005
This Fall, while the liberals and the mainstream women's rights organizations are spending millions of dollars on a public relations campaign to block the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, those of us on the radical left will be organizing for Rosie Jimenez Day and for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the law responsible for the death of Ms Jimenez and so many others unable to get a safe,legal abortion simply because Medicaid in their state wouldn't pay for it.
While the regressive and reprehensible actions by judges and legislators must be exposed and condemned, the primary task of socialist feminists is to challenge their underlying causes, namely: political maneuvers in the service of an economic system predicated on the economic, political, social, and sexual exploitation of women; patriarchal disrespect for women's needs and rights; increasing disregard for the separation of church and state; subservience of the "leaders" of the abortion rights movement to the Democratic Party; and the readiness of feminists to abandon militant tactics in favor of the legalistic and legislative approach advocated by NARAL and NOW.
It's up to us as socialist feminists to continually push for the rebuilding of radicalism within the abortion rights/reproductive justice movement: the radicalism that forced state legislators and eventually the Supreme Court to acknowledge the Constitutional right of women to have an abortion if they so choose. Today, we are demanding nothing less than full reproductive freedom for all women, in the context of our broader social, political, economic, and sexual rights. This is only possible by working together to create and maintain an energized, empowering, grassroots, pro-choice presence within an independent, mass movement for fundamental social change: in other words, the replacement of capitalism with democratic socialism.
No amount of pleading to "good" or "less bad" judges or legislators will get us to our goal. Involvement in the debate over Judge Roberts, other than providing an opportunity for discussion of the real issues, is just a waste of time. More than that, it helps maintain the illusion that the capitalism system will ultimately be willing to meet our basic human needs if we can just make the right deals.
This Fall while the liberals are spinning their wheels over the Roberts nomination, let's get off the defensive and take to the streets on October 3 for Rosie Jimenez Day. Vision and activism, not endless strategies of reaction to right-wing attacks, are the ways we will bring more members of our communities into a revitalized reproductive rights movement: a movement that unequivocally demands access to abortion for all women as an integral part of a nationalized system of free,high-quality health care.
Honor the memory of Rosie Jimenez. Fight for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment.
Stop the war on women!
Speech for the "Dump the Democrats" Rally, Government Center-Boston, July 26, 2004
Prepared and delivered by Susan Dorazio
Convener of the Women's Commission of the Socialist Party-USA
Hello everybody. Here in Massachusetts we have a state legislature comprised overwhelmingly of Democrats -- the so-called friends of working people.
Well, as a child care worker in the Western part of the state for the past 27 years, I can tell you that the friendship of the Democrats in the State House is a charade. As I say to my fellow workers, they are playing us for fools, and they have been for as long as I've been trekking to Beacon Hill for the perennial Lobby Day, and taking part in numerous phone call and letter writing campaigns for legislation that never gets passed, or if passed never gets funded. And the same is true for every other working person in Massachusetts as well. It's past time for us to say enough is enough, join forces, and stand up for our rights.
So how do these Democrats get away with it, year in and year out: playing the "progressives" while we scramble around for the crumbs off their table?
Of course, what works best is the "divide and conquer" strategy. My field of early childhood care and education is doubly targetted. We get pitted not only against other educators, but against social service workers as well.
And what is their rationale for maintaining this desperate infighting? The state is broke! Well, we have two pieces of advice for our Democratic legislators: Tax the Rich and Starve the Pentagon!
Massachusetts is a rich state. There is plenty of revenue available to fund quality child care, education, and social services. The legislators need look no further than the pockets of the wealthy-- in the short term through higher estate taxes and taxes on luxury items, and longer term through a constitutional amendment allowing for a steeply graduated income tax.
And what about Federal revenues? While you and I are barely getting by, well over a billion dollars a day is going to maintain the military and perpetuate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a cut of at least 50% in the military budget.
Those of us in education, child care, and social services need to totally reconsider and rework our relationship to our state legislatures. We need to examine past experiences, look for new models, broaden our advocacy base, get our issues on the activist agenda and connect peace and justice issues to ours. We need to come together and confront our legislators and demand our basic human rights. We need to develop radical strategies around a radical analysis of U.S. imperialism. This analysis must certainly emphasize the role of the Democratic Party in upholding and furthering the global capitalist agenda-- an agenda which is totally at odds with human rights and civil liberties.
DUMP THE DEMOCRATS! Working within the Democratic Party is a dead-end. Bringing change via a corrupt and discredited political system is an illusion. Our only hope is a mass movement based on independent political action to create a truly democratic society. Another social system, another economic system, another political system is possible!